Church

There was some discussion at the hotel when we asked what time the local church service started - some said 1030 and some 1100 - so to play safe we arrived at about 1015 and waited to see what would happen. The church itself was down a rough track about a mile from the hotel and people began to appear at about 1030 - and at 1050 they banged a drum made out of a carved out treestump and things commenced.

The service itself turned out to be in Fijian but folks were pleased to have us and it was good to be there. The singing was the high spot - all led by voice - and the excitement was when the preacher ground to a halt half way through and seemed overcome. After a few minutes silence one of the elders went behind the arras to see what was happening and the cantor led into the final hymn.

The sister resort to the one that we were staying in turned out to have a Par 3 golf course so I ventured forth on that in the afternoon and Jean kept me company and acted as the official photographer.

We have had some wonderful sunsets in the evenings and as the sun sinks below the horizon the sky is full of the most wonderful reds and yellows.

The resort has a couple of artificial peninsulas which are a pleasant walk in the evenings - though when we walked down one last night and peered over the edge - a metre long black and white seasnake peered back at us and then began consuming an unsuspecting crab. Some young Fijians who were also there announced that it was not poisonous - it was the red and black ones to worry about apparently....